Leicester and Leeds were relegated from the Premier League after Abdoulaye Doucoure’s stunning strike secured Everton a 1-0 win over Bournemouth and survival on the final day of the season.
The Toffees were heading down as things stood at half-time in the campaign’s concluding round of fixtures, with their clash with the Cherries at Goodison Park still goalless while Leicester led at home against West Ham.
But Doucoure’s strike from just outside the area in the 57th minute subsequently gave Sean Dyche’s men the victory they needed to guarantee safety, rendering their rivals’ results irrelevant.
Dean Smith’s Leicester drop despite winning 2-1 against West Ham, Harvey Barnes having netted the first-half opener and Wout Faes adding a 62nd-minute header before Pablo Fornals pulled a goal back for the visitors.
Second-bottom Leeds join the Foxes and Southampton in the second tier following a 4-1 home loss to Tottenham as Sam Allardyce’s four-game mission to rescue the Yorkshire outfit proved in vain.
Harry Kane put Spurs in front in the second minute, Pedro Porro doubled their advantage in the opening stages of the second half, and after Jack Harrison’s 67th-minute reply, Kane – registering his 30th league goal of the season – and Lucas Moura then further boosted the visitors’ tally.
The result was not enough to see Tottenham claim Europa Conference League qualification, with Aston Villa cementing seventh place thanks to a 2-1 home win over Brighton.
Douglas Luiz and Ollie Watkins scored for Unai Emery’s side early on, with Deniz Undav then reducing the deficit just before the break.
Brentford also missed out on the final European spot despite winning, Ethan Pinnock’s late goal earning a 1-0 home victory over champions Manchester City having signed a new contract with the Bees earlier in the day.
Second-placed Arsenal thrashed Wolves 5-0 at the Emirates Stadium, where Granit Xhaka netted a brace and Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Jakub Kiwior also got on the scoresheet.
Manchester United secured third place as they came from behind to beat Fulham 2-1 at home.
The Cottagers led through a 19th-minute Kenny Tete goal, then failed to take the chance to make it 2-0 seven minutes later as Aleksandar Mitrovic saw his penalty saved by David de Gea.
Jadon Sancho subsequently drew things level before Bruno Fernandes struck the winner 10 minutes into the second half.
Fourth-placed Newcastle drew 1-1 at Chelsea, with Anthony Gordon’s early opener for the Magpies being cancelled out by a Kieran Trippier own goal just before the half-hour mark. The Blues end their troubled season in 12th place.
Already-relegated Southampton signed off from the top flight by playing out a remarkable 4-4 draw with fifth-placed Liverpool at St Mary’s, in which they fought back from 2-0 down to lead 4-2.
Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino – playing his final game before leaving Liverpool – had Jurgen Klopp’s men two goals up early on before things turned around via a James Ward-Prowse finish, Kamaldeen Sulemana brace and Adam Armstrong effort. Cody Gakpo and Jota then hit back for Liverpool to see the game end up all-square.
Sunday’s other match also finished honours even, with Will Hughes’ second-half goal securing a 1-1 draw for Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park against Nottingham Forest, for whom Taiwo Awoniyi had scored a sixth goal in four games.
Fulham v Liverpool: Klopp unconcerned by Salah's scoring form
Jurgen Klopp is not overly worried by Mohamed Salah’s slight dip in form, as the Liverpool manager turned full focus to the Reds’ Premier League title challenge.
A bad week for Liverpool was capped off on Thursday when, despite a 1-0 win over Atalanta, they slumped out of the Europa League 3-1 on aggregate following a heavy defeat at Anfield in the first leg.
That loss on April 11 came three days before a 1-0 home reverse to Crystal Palace, which saw Liverpool’s league title hopes take a dent – they are now two points behind Manchester City with six games remaining.
What has not helped their course is that talisman Salah – who netted an early penalty against Atalanta but squandered a big chance later in the match – has scored just three times in the league since returning from a hamstring injury he sustained while playing for Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations in January.
Klopp, though, is confident Salah will soon be back at his best.
“I am not particularly concerned,” he said ahead of facing Fulham.
“That’s what strikers do, that’s what happens to strikers, that’s how it is. We have to go through this, he has to go through that. He is one of the most experienced players we have in the squad.
“We will go through that but that’s pretty much all. It’s not that Mo didn’t miss chances before in his life, that’s a part of the game. I am not particularly concerned.”
Reflecting on the task at hand now for his side, Klopp added: “Disappointed that we did not go through [in Europe] but not frustrated or angry.
“Now we can focus on the league and that’s what we will do. We have a few days to recover, we will do that, and then will travel the day after tomorrow to London and will play Fulham, which will be tricky but we will give our absolute all.
“That’s our competition now. I saw a good reaction from my side, we had not a great week last week obviously. This, if we want, was the start for the rest of the season with a good result and a good performance and that’s how we see it.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Fulham – Andreas Pereira
Pereira has been involved in four goals in his last four Premier League appearances (two goals, two assists), with his brace against West Ham more than he had netted in his previous 34 games combined (one).
Indeed, Pereira has more goal involvements than any other Fulham player since the start of last season (seven goals, 13 assists).
Liverpool – Mohamed Salah
Salah may not be firing on all cylinders from a goalscoring perspective, but he is proving to be Liverpool’s creative hub.
Only Martin Odegaard (68) and Bruno Fernandes (59) have created more chances from open play in the Premier League this season than Salah (58). He has created at least four open-play chances in five different games this season, with Roberto Firmino the last Liverpool player to do so more times in one season (10 in 2016-17).
MATCH PREDICTION: LIVERPOOL WIN
The Reds might have had a bad week, but Opta’s model still fancies their chances of returning to winning ways.
Liverpool have scored in each of their last 19 away Premier League matches, the longest current run of any side. That being said, since losing 3-0 to Brentford in their first home Premier League game this season, Fulham have conceded just 13 goals in their last 15 games at Craven Cottage (0.9 per game). With six clean sheets at home so far, the Cottagers last had more in a Premier League campaign in 2010-11 (nine).
Marco Silva’s team have scored 49 Premier League goals this season, having netted 55 last season. The last time the Cottagers scored 50+ goals in consecutive Premier League seasons was in 2003-04 (52) and 2004-05 (52).
However, Fulham have won just one of their last 11 Premier League meetings with Liverpool (D2 L8), winning 1-0 at Anfield in March 2021.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Fulham – 20.85%
Liverpool – 53.1%
Draw – 26.1%
Football rumours: Arsenal keen on signing Alexander Isak and Michael Olise
The Guardian reports that Arsenal are considering bringing in a striker and winger this summer, with Newcastle forward Alexander Isak and Crystal Palace winger Michael Olise among their targets.
Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann has managerial options outside of Bayern Munich and will make a decision in the next week or so, his agent says via the Metro.
Ex-Liverpool and Everton boss Rafael Benitez will take over as manager at Sao Paulo, less than month after he was sacked by Celta Vigo, claims The Sun.
Chelsea are preparing for offers from Liverpool and Ligue 1 outfit Paris St Germain for England international defender Levi Colwill.
Social media round-upPlayers to watchBenjamin Sesko: Chelsea and Manchester United are monitoring the RB Leipzig forward, who has a 50 million euro (£42.8 million) release clause, says Ben Jacobs.
Serge Gnabry: Tottenham are interested in the former Arsenal forward, with Bayern Munich willing to sell the Germany international, reports Football Insider.
Michail Antonio felt officials were against West Ham after European exit
Michail Antonio felt West Ham were up against 14 players as they bowed out of the Europa League to Bayer Leverkusen.
Antonio’s early header gave the Hammers hope of overturning a 2-0 first-leg deficit and inflicting a first defeat of the season on Xabi Alonso’s new Bundesliga champions.
But the bustling striker claimed he did not get a decision all night from card-happy Spanish referee Jose Maria Sanchez and his two assistants.
“It doesn’t feel like you’re playing against 11 men, it feels like you’re playing against 13 or 14 including the two linos,” Antonio told TNT Sports.
“You just have to keep pushing and try and make the decisions go your way. And they just weren’t. We had to keep playing our way and keep being professional.”
West Ham pushed gamely for a second goal to take the tie to extra-time, but as they inevitably flagged Leverkusen substitute Jeremie Frimpong scored with a deflected shot in the last minute to make it 1-1 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate.
It was a valiant effort but ultimately a sad end to another European adventure for last season’s Conference League winners.
“We’re very proud of ourselves, to achieve what we’ve achieved over the last few years is incredible,” added Antonio.
“Three back-to-back years in European quarter-finals I would never have thought that. We were a yo-yo team, fighting relegation, then into Europe.”
Sanchez booked 11 players and sent off West Ham coach Billy McKinlay, and Sebastian Parrilla from Leverkusen’s staff after a touchline altercation.
Asked if that skirmish had anything to do with some bad-tempered exchanges between the benches in last week’s first leg, Alonso said with a grin: “I wouldn’t say no.”
Hammers boss David Moyes was not keen to be drawn on the officiating, but he did say: “I watch a lot of Spanish football but if that’s the way it is you wouldn’t want to watch too many Spanish matches.”
On his side’s performance, he added: “It was a brilliant team performance, I have to say over the two games.
“We played a really good team and we had chances to be two or three up. I couldn’t fault the players at all. If I was going out of Europe I wanted to go out like that.”
In the first half Leverkusen looked as though they may have celebrated their first Bundesliga crown on Sunday a little too much, and Alonso admitted they needed to improve after the break.
“For sure it was a thrilling game,” he said. “Two different halves. First half we knew West Ham would come with high intensity and we were not comfortable with that.
“After they scored one we were lucky not to concede a second one. But we showed character in the second half and the substitutes had a good impact. It was a lesson for us.”
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